Chapter 2 Summary - The Wake (March 1969)

The day after her mother's death, Yuki and her aunt Aya (who had just arrived on the southbound train from Tokyo) are packing her mother's belongings into wooden storage boxes, while downstairs, the men rearrange the living room for the wake. Her aunt remarks how good Yuki'sYuki has been, and compliments her on her composure during these difficult times. Yuki, however, is sick of such remarks, because it is all anyone has said to her since the day before, when she came home to discover her mother's body.

Upon discovering the body, she had turned off the gas and called her father, who told her not to call an ambulance because it would create a commotion. He would come home, he said, and bring a doctor immediately. After they arrive, and upon the doctor having pronounced...